On Thursday last
a meeting of Magistrates of the County of Carlow was held in
the Grand Jury room.

It was convened
by circular by Right Hon. Lord Rathdonnell, His Majesty's
Lieutenant, "to pass a resolution expressing deep sorrow at
the death of Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria and
sympathy with His Most Gracious Majesty King Edward the V11,
and members of the Royal Family".

Addressing the
meeting Lord Rathdonnell said: Gentlemen I felt it my duty
to call you together to express our feelings of deep sorrow
at the death of her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen.

We have lost a
Sovereign who has reigned the longest and has been the most
constitutional Monarch that ever sat on the throne ----a
Monarch who lived daily, even hourly, for the welfare of her
subjects ---a Monarch who was not only a great Queen
Empress, but was at the same time a good woman, always
setting an example to everyone both in public and in private
life, and always sharing, and more than sharing, in the
happiness and sorrows of those over whom she ruled.

It is therefore,
I think right, that we should tender our respectful sympathy
to his Most Gracious Majesty the King, to the Queen, and to
the Royal Family in this hour of their sad distress and
sorrow, and it is for this reason, gentlemen, that I called
you here today.

If you will
allow me, I would call on the Right Honourable Henry Bruen
to move a resolution.

Responding,
Right Hon. Henry Bruen said --- I heartily thank you , Lord
Rathdonnell, for having given me the privilege of moving a
resolution expressing our sorrow, a privilege which I prize
deeply, and tendering our sympathy to the King, and the
Royal Family etc.etc. (Note intervened in 2011: there
follows a very long account of Henry Bruen's speech,
unfortunately life is not long enough for me to transcribe
and type same but the gist of it is "The Queen is dead, God
save the King").

To The Editor of The Carlow Sentinel.

Dear Sir --
Kindly permit me to say that I was unavoidably prevented
from attending the meeting of magistrates held on Thursday
last for the purpose of passing a resolution of condolence
with the Royal Family in their present profound sorrow, an
object in which I sincerely sympathise --Yours truly,

Herbert B.
Warren.

Queen Victoria died on 21 January 1901 at
the age of 81. She had been the Queen of Great Britain for
63 years, Empress of India for 25 years, presiding over the
industrialization of Britain and the expansion of the
British Empire overseas. But perhaps her most lasting
influence was on the values of the time: the Victorian age
became synonymous with prudish gentility and repression.

When her husband Albert died in 1861,
Victoria donned widow's mourning clothes and wore them for
the rest of her life. This display had a profound effect on
the nation's attitude to mourning - lavish funerals and
strictly dictated mourning clothes and etiquette became the
fashion until the end of the century.

At Victoria's death there was a final
outpouring of elaborate mourning – all adults wore black,
black and purple banners were hung from shop windows; even
iron fences were given a fresh coat of black paint. However,
her son King Edward VII was a sensible man, and signalled
the beginning of a new era by limiting the period of
mourning for his mother to three months.